Rush Limbaugh announces he has ‘advanced lung cancer’ EIB Network

Rush Limbaugh announces he has ‘advanced lung cancer’

Rush Shares His Cancer Diagnosis

Feb 3, 2020

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, this… This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory for me because I’ve known this moment was coming in the program today. Now, I’m sure that you all know by now, I really don’t like talking about myself, and I don’t like making things about me other than in the usual satirical, parodic, joking way.

I like this program to be about you and the things that matter to all of us. The one thing that I know that has happened over the 31-plus years of this program is that there has been an incredible bond that has developed between all of you and me. Now, this program’s 31 years old, and in that 31 years, there are people — you hear them call all the time — who have been listening the whole time. They’ve been listening 30 years or 25 years.

I just had somebody say they’ve been here three years. But, whatever, it is a family-type relationship to me, and I’ve mentioned to you that this program and this job is what has provided me the greatest satisfaction and happiness that I’ve ever experienced, more than I ever thought that I would experience. So I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn’t have to tell you.

It’s a struggle for me because I had to inform my staff earlier today. I can’t escape… Even though people are telling me it’s not the way to look at it, I can’t help but feel that I’m letting everybody down with this. But the upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20th. I first realized something was wrong on my birthday weekend, January 12th.

I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, and I thought about not telling anybody. I thought about trying to do this without anybody knowing, ’cause I don’t like making things about me. But there are going to be days that I’m not gonna be able to be here because I’m undergoing treatment or I’m reacting to treatment, and I know that that would inspire all kinds of curiosity with people wondering what’s going on.

And the worst thing that can happen is when there is something going on and you try to hide it and cover it up. It’s eventually gonna leak, and then people are gonna say, “Why didn’t you just say it? Why’d you try to fool everybody? ” It’s not that I want to fool anybody. It’s just that I don’t want to burden anybody with it, and I haven’t wanted to. But it is what it is. You know me; I’m the mayor of Realville.

So this has happened, and my intention is to come here every day I can and to do this program as normally and as competently and as expertly as I do each and every day, because that is the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally, personally. I’ve had so much support from family and friends during this that it’s just been tremendous. I told the staff today that I have a deeply personal relationship with God that I do not proselytize about.

But I do, and I have been working that relationship (chuckles) tremendously, which I do regularly anyway, but I’ve been focused on it intensely for the past couple of weeks. I know there are many of you in this audience who have experienced this, who are going through it yourselves at the same time. I am, at the moment, experiencing zero symptoms other than… Look, I don’t want to get too detailed in this.

What led to shortness of breath that I thought might have been asthma or — you know, I’m 69 — it could have been my heart. My heart’s in great shape, ticking away fine, squeezing and pumping great. It was not that. It was a pulmonary problem involving malignancy. So I’m gonna be gone the next couple days as we figure out the treatment course of action and have further testing done. But, as I said, I’m gonna be here as often as I can.

And, as is the case with everybody who finds themselves in this circumstance, you just want to push ahead and try to keep everything as normal as you can, which is something that I’m going to try to do. But I felt that I had to tell you because that’s the kind of relationship I feel like I have with those of you in this audience. I say it every Christmas, which is when I feel more thankful than at Thanksgiving.

And I feel thankful at Thanksgiving, but Christmas it really gets to me. But over the years, a lot of people have been very nice telling me how much this program has meant to them. But whatever that is, it pales in comparison to what you all have meant to me. And I can’t describe this. But I know you’re there every day. I can see you. It’s strange how, but I know you’re there.

I know you’re there in great numbers, and I know that you understand everything I say. The rest of the world may not when they hear it expressed a different way, but I know that you do. You’ve been one of the greatest sources of confidence that I’ve had in my life. So, I hope I will be talking about this as little as necessary in the coming days.

But we’ve got a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled. We’re at full-speed ahead on this, and it’s just now a matter of implementing what we are gonna be told later this week. So, I’ll be back here. I hope I’ll be back Thursday. If not, it will be as soon as I can — and know that every day I’m not here, I’ll be thinking about you and missing you. Thank you very much.

Conservative radio show host Rush Limbaugh, 69, stuns his listeners by announcing he has advanced lung cancer

The radio personality told listeners the news live on his show Monday afternoon

Limbaugh said he first noticed something was wrong after suffering shortness of breath over the weekend of January 12 and was diagnosed eight days later

The host told listeners he will not be on the air for some days due to treatment

Breaking the news he called it ‘one of the most difficult days in recent memory’

Staunch Republican Limbaugh is a friend of President Donald Trump and the pair have been spotted golfing together on a number of occasions

Limbaugh is thought to have started smoking when he was 16 but quit in the early 80s after a ‘real bad case of bronchitis, almost like walking pneumonia’

He has also spoken of his love of smoking cigars in the past, saying they are ‘just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life’

Rush Limbaugh has announced that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

The radio personality, 69, broke the news live on his show on Monday afternoon, explaining to his millions of listeners that he will not be on the air for some days due to treatment.

Limbaugh said he first noticed something was wrong after suffering from shortness of breath over his birthday weekend of January 12 and was diagnosed on January 20. He said he had thought about not telling anyone of the news.

But the staunch Republican, who is a friend of President Donald Trump, added: ‘There are going to be days that I’m not going to be able to be here.’

Limbaugh is thought to have started smoking when he was 16 but quit after a ‘real bad case of bronchitis, almost like walking pneumonia’.

He has also spoken of his love of smoking cigars in the past, saying they are ‘just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life’.

Rush Limbaugh announced Monday that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer

Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh at Mar-A-Lago in April 2019, left. Limbaugh has been spotted playing golf with the president on a number of occasions. The radio host is pictured with his fourth wife Kathryn Rogers, right

The radio personality is pictured speaking with President Donald Trump in 2018

Limbaugh started his radio career in 1971 as a DJ on a Pennsylvania radio station. He has been spotted playing golf with the president on a number of occasions.

Trump announced the host had signed a new four year contract on his show at a rally in Miami last month, telling supporters: ‘We have great people. Rush just signed another four-year contract. He just wants four more years, OK?’

Limbaugh said Monday: ‘This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory, for me, because I’ve known this moment was coming.

‘I’m sure that you all know by now that I really don’t like talking about myself and I don’t like making things about me.

‘One thing that I know, that has happened over the 31-plus years of this program is that there has been an incredible bond that had developed between all of you and me. It is a family type relationship to me.’

‘So, I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn’t have to tell you. It’s a struggle for me, because I had to inform my staff earlier today,’ Limbaugh said.

He added: ‘I can’t help but feel that I’m letting everybody down with this. But the upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.’

How The Rush Limbaugh Show became the voice for conservative politics

Rush Limbaugh started his radio career in 1971 as a DJ on a Pennsylvania radio station.

He started the trend of conservative talk radio in 1988, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

He started his first national radio show from New York, later relocating to Palm Beach, Florida.

Since then his show made him a household name with an estimated 14 million listeners in 2015.

The hyper-partisan broadcaster has dominated talk radio with a raucous, liberal-bashing style that made him one of the most influential voices of American right-wing politics and inspired other conservative broadcasters including Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.

‘It’s shocking to the industry, and it should be shocking to the political establishment,’ said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the trade industry publication for talk radio.

‘But we’ve got a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled. We’re at full-speed ahead on this, and it’s just now a matter of implementing what we are gonna be told later this week. So I’ll be back here. I hope I’ll be back Thursday. If not, it will be as soon as I can — and know that every day I’m not here, I’ll be thinking about you and missing you. Thank you very much.’

Following the news Megyn Kelly tweeted: ‘Just heard the news about Rush Limbaugh, a man who loves this country and his listeners dearly, and is a tireless warrior for things he holds dear. Wishing him strength and tenacity as he takes on this new battle w/advanced lung cancer. Do what you do so well, Rush – FIGHT.’

Liz Cheney added: ‘Prayers for @rushlimbaugh. No one has been a stronger or more effective warrior for the conservative cause and for the future of our country. No one has had a bigger impact. We’re in this fight with you, Rush.’

Limbaugh told listeners in 2013: ‘I started smoking when I was 16. I went to electronics school in Dallas at age 16. Anyway, I was the youngest in this school by four or five years and everybody smoked.

‘So I started smoking. I was 16. Let’s see, it was 1980, ’81, ’82, somewhere around there when I quit.

‘One day I got a real bad case of bronchitis, almost like walking pneumonia, so I could not smoke a cigarette without coughing spasms.

‘So I said, ‘Well, I’m never gonna have a better time than now to quit when I can’t smoke.’ So I quit then.’

WHAT IS LUNG CANCER?

Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer.

Around 228,000 people are diagnosed with the condition every year in the US.

There are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, but many people with the condition eventually develop symptoms including:

– a persistent cough

– coughing up blood

– persistent breathlessness

– unexplained tiredness and weight loss

– an ache or pain when breathing or coughing

You should see a doctor if you have these symptoms.

Treating lung cancer

Treatment depends on the type of mutation the cancer has, how far it’s spread and how good your general health is.

If the condition is diagnosed early and the cancerous cells are confined to a small area, surgery to remove the affected area of lung may be recommended.

If surgery is unsuitable due to your general health, radiotherapy to destroy the cancerous cells may be recommended instead.

If the cancer has spread too far for surgery or radiotherapy to be effective, chemotherapy is usually used.

There are also a number of medicines known as targeted therapies.

They target a specific change in or around the cancer cells that is helping them to grow.

Targeted therapies cannot cure lung cancer but they can slow its spread.

Source: NHS

His producer Bo Snerdley tweeted: ‘Those of you who are listening to the Rush Limbaugh show now. Pray with us. Thank you. God Bless you Rush Limbaugh. Love you so much Rush.’

The president was seen enjoying lunch with Limbaugh three days before Christmas at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. The two also spent Good Friday together last year during a break in the Sunshine State.

Conservative radio host Limbaugh has been one of the president’s most vocal supporters, claiming Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report was ‘bogus from the beginning’.

He called the probe into possible collusion with the Russians a ‘manufactured coup’.

In 2015 he defended smokers, telling a listener: ‘There ought to be some measure of appreciation for people who buy tobacco products, despite the forces arrayed against them;

‘It’s getting harder and harder to use tobacco products, unless you want to call marijuana tobacco, and you can do that anywhere, for the most part.

‘But the fact of the matter is they have to endure a lot, the public hates them, they’re despised, they can’t smoke in places of comfort anymore, can’t even smoke outside in a park! And yet their actions and their taxes and their purchases are funding children’s health care programs.

‘I’m just saying there ought to be a little appreciation shown for them, instead of having them hated and reviled. I would like a medal for smoking cigars, is what I’m saying.’

Limbaugh’s announcement come at a tumultuous political time, as the conclusion of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial nears.

The hyper-partisan broadcaster has dominated talk radio with a raucous, liberal-bashing style that made him one of the most influential voices of American right-wing politics and inspired other conservative broadcasters including Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.

‘Rush you are in our prayers,’ Beck tweeted. ‘We live in a time of modern miracles. Millions are praying you find one.’

Kate Rogers and Rush Limbaugh attend the Andrea Bocelli concert at The Mar-a-Lago Club on February 28, 2010 in Palm Beach, Florida

From left to right: Jack Nicklaus and Rush Limbaugh pictured with Rudy Guiliani and Marvin Shanken during at The PGA National Golf Club on March 21, 2011 in West Palm Beach, Florida

The media figure’s endorsement and friendship is a conservative political treasure. His idol, Ronald Reagan, wrote a letter that Limbaugh read on the air in December 1992 and which sealed his reputation among conservatives: ‘You’ve become the number one voice for conservatism in our country,’ Reagan wrote.

Two years later, Limbaugh would be so widely credited as key to Republicans’ takeover of Congress for the first time in 40 years, he was deemed an honorary member of the new class.

Limbaugh has frequently been accused of hate-filled speech, including bigotry and blatant racism through his comments and sketches such as ‘Barack the Magic Negro,’ a song featured on his show that said Obama ‘makes guilty whites feel good’ and that the politician is ‘black, but not authentically.’

The full transcript from Rush Limbaugh as he shares his cancer diagnosis with listeners on his show on Monday afternoon:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, this… This day has been one of the most difficult days in recent memory for me because I’ve known this moment was coming in the program today. Now, I’m sure that you all know by now, I really don’t like talking about myself, and I don’t like making things about me other than in the usual satirical, parodic, joking way.

‘I like this program to be about you and the things that matter to all of us. The one thing that I know that has happened over the 31-plus years of this program is that there has been an incredible bond that has developed between all of you and me. Now, this program’s 31 years old, and in that 31 years, there are people — you hear them call all the time — who have been listening the whole time. They’ve been listening 30 years or 25 years.

‘I just had somebody say they’ve been here three years. But, whatever, it is a family-type relationship to me, and I’ve mentioned to you that this program and this job is what has provided me the greatest satisfaction and happiness that I’ve ever experienced, more than I ever thought that I would experience. So I have to tell you something today that I wish I didn’t have to tell you.

‘It’s a struggle for me because I had to inform my staff earlier today. I can’t escape… Even though people are telling me it’s not the way to look at it, I can’t help but feel that I’m letting everybody down with this. But the upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20th. I first realized something was wrong on my birthday weekend, January 12th.

‘I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, and I thought about not telling anybody. I thought about trying to do this without anybody knowing, ’cause I don’t like making things about me. But there are going to be days that I’m not gonna be able to be here because I’m undergoing treatment or I’m reacting to treatment, and I know that that would inspire all kinds of curiosity with people wondering what’s going on.

‘And the worst thing that can happen is when there is something going on and you try to hide it and cover it up. It’s eventually gonna leak, and then people are gonna say, ‘Why didn’t you just say it? Why’d you try to fool everybody? ‘ It’s not that I want to fool anybody. It’s just that I don’t want to burden anybody with it, and I haven’t wanted to. But it is what it is. You know me; I’m the mayor of Realville.

‘So this has happened, and my intention is to come here every day I can and to do this program as normally and as competently and as expertly as I do each and every day, because that is the source of my greatest satisfaction professionally, personally. I’ve had so much support from family and friends during this that it’s just been tremendous. I told the staff today that I have a deeply personal relationship with God that I do not proselytize about.

‘But I do, and I have been working that relationship (chuckles) tremendously, which I do regularly anyway, but I’ve been focused on it intensely for the past couple of weeks. I know there are many of you in this audience who have experienced this, who are going through it yourselves at the same time. I am, at the moment, experiencing zero symptoms other than… Look, I don’t want to get too detailed in this.

‘What led to shortness of breath that I thought might have been asthma or — you know, I’m 69 — it could have been my heart. My heart’s in great shape, ticking away fine, squeezing and pumping great. It was not that. It was a pulmonary problem involving malignancy. So I’m gonna be gone the next couple days as we figure out the treatment course of action and have further testing done. But as I said, I’m gonna be here as often as I can.

‘And as is the case with everybody who finds themselves in this circumstance, you just want to push ahead and try to keep everything as normal as you can, which is something that I’m going to try to do. But I felt that I had to tell you because that’s the kind of relationship I feel like I have with those of you in this audience. I say it every Christmas, which is what I feel more thankful than as Thanksgiving.

‘And I feel thankful at Thanksgiving, but Christmas it really gets to me. But over the years, a lot of people have been very nice telling me how much this program has meant to them. But whatever that is, it pales in comparison to what you all have meant to me. And I can’t describe this. But I know you’re there every day. I can see you. It’s strange how, but I know you’re there.

‘I know you’re there in great numbers, and I know that you understand everything I say. The rest of the world may not when they hear it expressed a different way, but I know that you do. You’ve been one of the greatest sources of confidence that I’ve had in my life. So I hope I will be talking about this as little as necessary in the coming days.

‘But we’ve got a great bunch of doctors, a great team assembled. We’re at full-speed ahead on this, and it’s just now a matter of implementing what we are gonna be told later this week. So I’ll be back here. I hope I’ll be back Thursday. If not, it will be as soon as I can — and know that every day I’m not here, I’ll be thinking about you and missing you. Thank you very much.’

Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (/ˈlɪmbɔː/LIM-baw; born January 12, 1951) is an American radio personality, conservative political commentator, author, and former television show host. He is best known as the host of his long running radio show The Rush Limbaugh Show, which entered national syndication on AM and FM radio stations in 1988. The show has aired live from Limbaugh’s home studio in West Palm Beach, Florida since 1996. Limbaugh began his career in 1967 as a radio DJ at various stations in Pittsburgh and Missouri. After a brief hiatus, Limbaugh returned to radio in 1984 at KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California, adopting a talk, political commentary, and listener phone-in format to his show. In 1988, Limbaugh started at WABC-AM in New York City where he became a prominent media figure.

In addition to his radio show, Limbaugh hosted a national television show from 1992 to 1996. He has written seven books; his first two, The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993), made The New York Times Best Seller list. Limbaugh is among the highest-paid radio figures. In 2008, he signed an eight-year deal with Clear Channel Communications worth $400 million to continue his radio show on its network.[1] In 2018, Forbes listed his earnings at $84.5 million [2], up slightly from 2017 when he was ranked as the 11th highest-earning celebrity.[3] In 2015, Talkers Magazine estimated that Limbaugh’s show attracted a cumulative weekly audience of 13.25 million listeners to become the most-listened-to radio show in the US.[4][5] Limbaugh has mentioned his audience has continued to grow to 14 million listeners each day and 27 million each week.[6] He is a critic of liberalism in the US and liberal bias in the widespread media.

In 1969, Limbaugh graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School.[citation needed] He played football.[10][11] During this time, at age 16 he worked his first radio job at KGMO-AM, a local radio station in Cape Girardeau. He used the airname Rusty Sharpe having found “Sharpe” in a telephone book.[7][12] Limbaugh later cited Chicago DJ Larry Lujack as a major influence on him, “the only person I ever copied.”[13] Because of his parents’ desire to see him attend college, he enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University but dropped out after two semesters. According to his mother, “he flunked everything […] he just didn’t seem interested in anything except radio.”[7][14]Biographer Zev Chafets believes that a large part of Limbaugh’s life has been dedicated to gaining his father’s respect and approval.[15]

Career

1971–1988: Early radio career

In February 1971, after dropping out of university, the 20-year-old Limbaugh accepted an offer to DJ at WIXZ-AM, a Top 40 station in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He adopted the airname “Bachelor Jeff” Christie and worked afternoons before moving to morning drive.[16] The station’s general manager compared Limbaugh’s style at this time to “early Imus.”[17] In 1973, after eighteen months at WIXZ, Limbaugh was fired from the station due to “personality conflict” with the program director. He then started a nighttime position at KQV-AM in Pittsburgh, succeeding Jim Quinn.[18] In late 1974, Limbaugh was dismissed after new management put pressure on the program director to fire him. Limbaugh recalled the general manager telling him that he would never land success as an air personality and suggested a career in radio sales.[19] After rejecting his only offer at the time, a position in Neenah, Wisconsin, Limbaugh returned to living with his parents in Cape Girardeau.[18] During this time, he became a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.[20][21][22]

In 1975, Limbaugh began an afternoon show at the Top 40 station KUDL in Kansas City, Missouri. He soon became the host of a public service talk program that aired on weekend mornings which allowed him to develop his style and present more controversial ideas.[23] In 1977, he was let go from the station but remained in Kansas City to start an evening show at KFIX. The stint was short-lived, however, and disagreements with management led to his dismissal weeks after.[24] By this time, Limbaugh had become disillusioned with radio and felt pressure to pursue a different career. He looked back on himself as “a moderate failure […] as a deejay”.[25] In 1979, he accepted a part-time role in group sales for the Kansas City Royals baseball team which developed into a full-time position as director of group sales and special events. He worked from the Royals Stadium.[26] There he developed a close friendship with then-Royals star third baseman and future Hall of FamerGeorge Brett; the two remain close friends.[27] Limbaugh claimed that business trips to Europe and Asia during this time developed his conservative views as he considered these countries having lower standards of living than the US.[28]

In November 1983, Limbaugh returned to radio with a year’s stint at KMBZ-AM in Kansas City. He decided to drop his on-air moniker and broadcast under his real name.[29] He was fired from the station, but weeks later he landed a spot on KFBK-AM in Sacramento, California, replacing Morton Downey Jr. The show launched on October 14, 1984.[30] The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine—which had required that stations provide free air time for responses to any controversial opinions that were broadcast—by the FCC on August 5, 1987 meant stations could broadcast editorial commentary without having to present opposing views. Daniel Henninger wrote, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, “Ronald Reagan tore down this wall (the Fairness Doctrine) in 1987 … and Rush Limbaugh was the first man to proclaim himself liberated from the East Germany of liberal media domination.”[31]

By 1990, Limbaugh had been on his Rush to Excellence Tour, a series of personal appearances in cities nationwide, for two years. For the 45 shows he completed that year alone, he was estimated to make around $360,000.[13]

In December 1990, journalist Lewis Grossberger wrote in The New York Times that Limbaugh had “more listeners than any other talk show host” and described Limbaugh’s style as “bouncing between earnest lecturer and political vaudevillian.”[13] Limbaugh’s rising profile coincided with the Persian Gulf War, and his support for the war effort and his relentless ridicule of peace activists. The program was moved to stations with larger audiences, eventually being broadcast on over 650 radio stations nationwide.

2000s

Limbaugh had publicized personal difficulties in the 2000s. In late 2001, he acknowledged that he had become almost completely deaf, although he continued his show. He was able to regain much of his hearing with the help of a cochlear implant in 2001.

I don’t think he’s been that good from the get-go. I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team.[34]

The sportwriter Peter King construed the comment as “boneheaded”.[35] The sports analyst Allen Barra wrote Limbaugh’s viewpoint was shared by “many football fans and analysts” and “it is… absurd to say that the sports media haven’t overrated Donovan McNabb because he’s black”.[36]

2010s

In 2013, news reports indicated that Cumulus Media, some of whose stations carried Limbaugh’s program in certain major markets, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C. and Detroit, was considering dropping his show when its contract with Limbaugh expired at the end of that year, reportedly because the company believed that its advertising revenues had been hurt by listener reaction to controversial Limbaugh comments.[40] Limbaugh himself said that the reports were overblown and that it was a matter of routine dollars-and-cents negotiations between Cumulus and his network syndication partner, Premiere Networks, a unit of Clear Channel Communications. Ultimately, the parties reached agreement on a new contract, with Limbaugh’s show moving from its long-time flagship outlet in New York, the Cumulus-owned WABC, to the latter’s cross-town rival, the Clear Channel-owned WOR, starting January 1, 2014, but remaining on the Cumulus-owned stations it was being carried on in other markets.[40]

Radio broadcasting shifted from AM to FM in the late 1970s because of the opportunity to broadcast music in stereo with better fidelity. Limbaugh’s show was first nationally syndicated in August 1988, in a later stage of AM’s decline. Limbaugh’s popularity paved the way for other conservative talk radio programming to become commonplace on AM radio. The show increased its audience in the 1990s to the extent that even some FM stations picked it up, even though AM’s poor sound quality and lack of stereo make AM preferable for a talk show like Limbaugh’s. As of January 2019 about half of Limbaugh’s affiliate stations are on the FM dial.

In March 2006, WBAL in Baltimore became the first major market radio station in the country to drop Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio program.[41] In 2007, Talkers magazine again named him No.1 in its “Heavy Hundred” most important talk show hosts.

Limbaugh frequently mentions the EIB (Excellence In Broadcasting) Network, trademarked in 1990. In the beginning, his show was co-owned and first syndicated by Edward F. McLaughlin, former president of ABC, who founded EFM Media in 1988, with Limbaugh’s show as his first product. In 1997, McLaughlin sold EFM to Jacor Communications, which was ultimately bought up by Clear Channel Communications. Today, Limbaugh owns a majority of the show, which is syndicated by the Premiere Radio Networks.

According to a 2001 article in U.S. News & World Report, Limbaugh had an eight-year contract, at the rate of $31.25 million a year.[42] In 2007, Limbaugh earned $33 million.[43] A November 2008 poll by Zogby International found that Rush Limbaugh was the most trusted news personality in the nation, garnering 12.5 percent of poll responses.[44]

Limbaugh signed a $400 million, eight-year contract in 2008 with what was then Clear Channel Communications, making him the highest-paid broadcaster on terrestrial radio. On August 2, 2016, Limbaugh signed a four-year extension of the 2008 contract.[45] At the announcement of the extension, Premiere Radio Networks and iHeartMedia announced that his show experienced audience growth with 18% growth in adults 25–54, 27% growth with 25–54 women, and ad revenue growth of 20% year over year.[45]

On January 5, 2020, Limbaugh renewed his contract again. Though media reports said it was “a long-term” renewal, (with no length specified), according to Donald Trump it was a four-year deal.[47]

Television show

Limbaugh had a syndicated half-hour television show from 1992 through 1996, produced by Roger Ailes. The show discussed many of the topics on his radio show, and was taped in front of an audience. Rush Limbaugh says he loves doing his radio show,[48] but not a TV show.[49]

Other media appearances

Limbaugh’s first television hosting experience came March 30, 1990, as a guest host on Pat Sajak‘s CBS late-night talk show, The Pat Sajak Show.[50]ACT UP activists in the audience[51]heckled Limbaugh repeatedly; ultimately the entire studio audience was cleared. In 2001, Sajak said the incident was “legendary around CBS”.[52]

Influence and legacy

Limbaugh has become widely recognized as one of the premiere voices of the conservative movement in the United States since the 1990s. In a 1992 letter, President Reagan thanked him, “for all you’re doing to promote Republican and conservative principles… [and] you have become the Number One voice for conservatism in our Country.”[54][55] In 1994, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives made Limbaugh an honorary member.[56]

In 1995, Rush Limbaugh was profiled on the PBS series Frontline in a one-hour documentary called “Rush Limbaugh’s America.” Limbaugh refused to be interviewed, but his mother, brother and many Republican supporters took part, as well as critics and opponents.[57]

Since the 1990s, Limbaugh has become known for his love of cigars, saying, “I think cigars are just a tremendous addition to the enjoyment of life.”[58] During his syndicated television program from 1992 to 1996, he also become known for wearing distinctive neckties. In response to viewer interest, Limbaugh launched a series of ties[59] designed primarily by his then-wife Marta.[60] Limbaugh is also known for using props, songs and photos to introduce his monologues on various topics. On his radio show, news about the homeless has often been preceded with the Clarence “Frogman” Henry song “Ain’t Got No Home.”[13] For a time, Dionne Warwick‘s song, “I Know I’ll Never Love This Way Again” preceded reports about people with HIV/AIDS.[61] These later became “condom updates” preceded by Fifth Dimension‘s song, “Up, Up and Away”.[13] For two weeks in 1989, on his Sacramento radio show, Limbaugh performed “caller abortions” where he would end a call suddenly to the sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a scream. He would then deny that he had “hung up” on the caller, which he had promised not to do. Limbaugh claims that he used this gag to illustrate “the tragedy of abortion” as well as to highlight the question of whether abortion constitutes murder.[62] During the Clinton administration, while filming his television program, Limbaugh referred to media coverage of Socks, the Clintons’ cat. He then stated, “But did you know there is also a White House dog?” and a picture of Chelsea Clinton was shown. When questioned about it, Limbaugh claimed that it was an accident and that without his permission some technician had put up the picture of Chelsea.[63][64]

Limbaugh was awarded the inaugural William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence by the Media Research Center, a conservative media analysis group in 2007.[73] Conservative magazine Human Events also announced Limbaugh as their 2007 Man of the Year.[74]Later that same year, Barbara Walters featured Limbaugh as one of the most fascinating people of the year in a special that aired on December 4, 2008.[75]

On February 28, 2009, following his self-described “first address to the nation” lasting 90 minutes, carried live on CNN and Fox News and recorded for C-SPAN, Limbaugh received CPAC‘s “Defender of the Constitution Award”, a document originally signed by Benjamin Franklin, given to someone “who has stood up for the First Amendment … Rush Limbaugh is for America, exactly what Benjamin Franklin did for the Founding Fathers … the only way we will be successful is if we listen to Rush Limbaugh.”[76]

In his 2010 book, Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One, Ze’ev Chafets cited Limbaugh as, “the brains and the spirit behind” the Republican Party’s resurgence in the 2010 midterm elections in the wake of the election of President Obama.[77] Chafets pointed, among others, to Sen.Arlen Specter‘s defeat, after being labeled by Limbaugh as a “Republican in Name Only”, and to Sarah Palin, whose “biggest current applause line – Republicans are not just the party of no, but the party of hell no – came courtesy of Mr. Limbaugh.” Limbaugh has argued the party-of-no Ronald Reagan conservative course for the Republicans vigorously, notably since six weeks after the Obama inauguration, and has been fundamental to, and encouraging to, the more prominently noted Tea Party movement.[78]

Rush Limbaugh was inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians on May 14, 2012, in a secret ceremony announced only 20 minutes before it began to prevent negative media attention.[79] A bronze bust of Limbaugh is on display at the Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, along with 40 other awardees. Limbaugh’s bust includes a security camera to prevent vandalism.[80][81]

Minorities

Limbaugh is known for making controversial race-related statements with regard to African-Americans. He once opined that all newspaper composite pictures of wanted criminals resembled Jesse Jackson, and another time that “the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”[86][87] While employed as what he describes as an “insult-radio” DJ, he used a derogatory racial stereotype to characterize a black caller he could not understand, telling the caller to “take that bone out of your nose and call me back,” although he expressed guilt over this when recounting it.[87] In March 2010, Limbaugh used the similarity of recently resigned Rep. Eric Massa‘s surname to the slavery-era African-American pronunciation of “master” to make a pun on the possibility that Gov. David Paterson, New York‘s first African-American governor, would pick Massa’s replacement: “Let’s assume you’re right [caller]. So, David Paterson will become the massa who gets to appoint whoever gets to take Massa’s place. So, for the first time in his life, Paterson’s gonna be a massa. Interesting, interesting.”[88]

Limbaugh has asserted that African-Americans, in contrast with other minority groups, are “left behind” socially because they have been systematically trained from a young age to hate the United States because of the welfare state.[89]

Limbaugh, who has expressed anti-LGBT rhetoric in the past and views homosexual sexual practices as unhygienic, made serophobic statements about HIV/AIDS victims in the 1990s, and called the virus “Rock Hudson‘s disease” and “the only federally-protected virus.” Limbaugh claimed in 2007 while defending President Reagan’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic during the 1980s that it did not “spread to the heterosexual community.” Limbaugh, who still opposes homosexuality, has since called his statements “the single most regretful thing I have ever done.”[91][92] In 2013, Limbaugh commented on same-sex marriage by saying, “This issue is lost. I don’t care what the Supreme Court does. This is inevitable. And it’s inevitable because we lost the language on this. As far as I’m concerned, once we started talking about gay marriage, traditional marriage, opposite-sex marriage, same-sex marriage, hetero marriage, we lost. It was over.”[93][94]

Sexual consent

Limbaugh dismisses the concept of consent in sexual relations. He views consent as “the magic key to the left.”[96] In 2014, Limbaugh criticized a policy at Ohio State University encouraging students to obtain verbal consent, saying “How many of you guys . . . have learned that ‘no’ means ‘yes’ if you know how to spot it?” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee used these statements to advocate a boycott of Limbaugh’s show and advertisers, claiming that the statements were tantamount to an endorsement of sexual assault. Limbaugh denied this, and his spokesman Brian Glicklick and lawyer Patricia Glaser threatened a defamation lawsuit against the DCCC .[97]

Limbaugh has written that “there are more acres of forestland in America today than when Columbus discovered the continent [sic] in 1492,” a claim that is disputed by the United States Forest Service and the American Forestry Association, which state that the precolonial forests have been reduced by about 24 percent or nearly 300 million acres.[108][109]

Feminism

Limbaugh is critical of feminism, which he views as advancing only liberals and not women in general.[91] During an interview with Time magazine during the 1992 presidential election he stated that it “was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.”[111] He has criticized Democratic congressmen calling for more women in Congress as hypocritical due to their opposition to female Republican candidates.[91] He has also regularly used the term “feminazi“, described by The New York Times in 1994 as one of his “favorite epithets for supporters of women’s rights”.[33] According to Limbaugh in 1992, for certain feminists, the “most important thing in life is ensuring that as many abortions as possible occur.”[112] He also used the term referring to the half-million large 2017 Women’s March as the “Deranged Feminazi March”.[113] He credited his friend Tom Hazlett, a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, with coining the term.[114]

Middle East

Limbaugh first rose to prominence in 1991 for his vocal support for the Persian Gulf War and criticism of opponents of the war. Limbaugh later accused the media, in particular Sam Donaldson, of deliberately overestimating in their predictions of the amount of American casualties caused by the war and overstating the Iraqi Armed Forces’s military preparedness.

Barack Obama

Rush Limbaugh strongly opposed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election. Limbaugh predicted that Obama would be unable to win the election. On January 16, 2009, Limbaugh commented on the then-upcoming Obama presidency, “I hope he fails.”[128]Limbaugh later said that he wants to see Obama’s policies fail, not the man himself.[129] Speaking of Obama, Limbaugh said, “He’s my president, he’s a human being, and his ideas and policies are what count for me.”[128] Limbaugh later discouraged efforts to impeach Barack Obama as politically unrealistic.[130]

Limbaugh accused Obama of using his race to prevent criticism of his policies, and said he was successful in his first year in office only because conservative members of the 111th Congress feared accusations of racism.[131][132] Limbaugh featured a recurring skit in which his colleague James Golden, who described himself as an “African-American-in-good-standing-and-certified-black-enough-to-criticize-Obama guy,” appeared in a cameo as the “Official EIB Obama Criticizer.”[133]

On his show, Limbaugh has said that the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019 may have been a false-flag operation. Limbaugh described “an ongoing theory” that the shooter was actually “a leftist” trying to smear the right. Despite providing no source or evidence, Limbaugh continued: “…you can’t immediately discount this. The left is this insane, they are this crazy.”[169][170]

Limbaugh has been criticized for inaccuracies by the Environmental Defense Fund. A defense fund report authored by Princeton University endowed geoscience professor Michael Oppenheimer and professor of biology David Wilcove lists 14 significant scientific facts that, the authors allege, Limbaugh misrepresented in his book The Way Things Ought to Be.[179] The authors conclude that “Rush Limbaugh … allows his political bias to distort the truth about a whole range of important scientific issues.”

On October 14, 2011, Limbaugh questioned the U.S. military initiative against Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), based on the assumption that they were Christians. “They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them.” Upon learning about the accusations leveled against Kony, which included kidnapping whole schools of young children for use as child soldiers, Limbaugh stated that he would research the group.[180][181]The show’s written transcript on his website was not changed.[181][182]

Michael J. Fox

In October 2006, Limbaugh said Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, had exaggerated the effects of his affliction in a political TV advertisement advocating for funding of stem cell research. Limbaugh said that Fox in the ad had been “shameless” in “moving all around and shaking”, and that Fox had not taken “his medication or he’s acting, one of the two”.[183] Fox said “the irony of it is I was too medicated,”[184] adding that there was no way to predict how his symptoms would manifest. Limbaugh said he would apologize to Fox “bigly, hugely… if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act.”[185] In 2012, Fox said Limbaugh in 2006 had acted on “bullying instincts” when “he said I faked it. I didn’t fake it,” and said Limbaugh’s goal was to have him marginalized and shut down for his stem cell stance.[186]

Phony soldiers

In 2007, Media Matters‘ reported that Limbaugh had categorized Iraq War veterans opposed to the war as “the phony soldiers.” Limbaugh later said that he was speaking of Jesse MacBeth, a soldier who falsely claimed to have been decorated for valor but, in fact, had never seen combat. Limbaugh said Media Matters was trying to smear him with out-of-context and selectively edited comments. After Limbaugh published what he claimed was the entire transcript of phony soldiers discussion, Media Matters said that over a minute and 30 seconds of the transcript was omitted without “notation or ellipsis to indicate that there is, in fact, a break in the transcript.”[187][188] Limbaugh said during the minute and a half gap Media Matters had pointed out, he was waiting for relevant ABC news copy on the topic, and the transcript and audio edits were “for space and relevance reasons, not to hide anything.”[189] Senator Harry Reid and 41 Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, signed a letter asking the CEO of Clear Channel to denounce Limbaugh. Instead, he gave the letter to Limbaugh to auction. It raised over $2 million for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation.[190]

Sandra Fluke

On February 29, 2012, Limbaugh, while talking about contraceptive mandates, included remarks about law student Sandra Fluke as a “slut” and “prostitute.” Limbaugh was commenting on Fluke’s speech the previous week to House Democrats in support of mandating insurance coverage for contraceptives. Limbaugh made numerous similar statements over the next two days, leading to the loss of 45[191] to “more than 100”[192] local and national sponsors and Limbaugh’s apology on his show for some of his comments. Susan McMillan Emry co-organized a public relations campaign called Rock the Slut Vote as a response to Limbaugh’s remarks.[193]

Charitable work

Leukemia and lymphoma telethon

Limbaugh holds an annual fundraising telethon called the “EIB Cure-a-Thon”[194] for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.[195] In 2006, the EIB Cure-a-Thon conducted its 16th annual telethon, raising $1.7 million,[196] totaling over $15 million since the first cure-a-thon.[197]According to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society annual reports, Limbaugh personally contributed between $100,000 and $499,999 from 2000–2005 and 2007,[198] and Limbaugh said that he contributed around $250,000 in 2003, 2004 and 2005.[199] NewsMax reported Limbaugh donated $250,000 in 2006,[200] and the Society’s 2006 annual report placed him in the $500,000 to $999,999 category.[198] Limbaugh donated $320,000 during the 2007 Cure-a-Thon,[201] which the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society reported had raised $3.1 million.[202] On his radio program April 18, 2008, Limbaugh pledged $400,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society after being challenged by two listeners to increase his initial pledge of $300,000.[203]

Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation

Limbaugh conducts an annual drive to help the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation collect contributions to provide scholarships for children of Marines and law enforcement officers and agents who have died in the line of duty.[204][205] The foundation was the beneficiary of a record $2.1 million eBay auction in October 2007 after Limbaugh listed for sale a letter critical of him signed by 41 Democratic senators and pledged to match the selling price.[206] With the founding of his and his wife’s company Two if by Tea, they pledged to donate at least $100,000 to the MC–LEF beginning in June 2011.[207]

Tunnel to Towers Foundation

In July 2019 Nike announced a special Fourth of July edition of their Air Max1 Quick Strike sneaker that featured the thirteen-star Betsy Ross flag. The company withdrew the sneaker after their spokesman Colin Kaepernick raised concerns that the symbol represented an era of black enslavement.[208] In response Limbaugh’s radio program introduced a t-shirt imprinted “Stand up for Betsy Ross” with sale proceeds to benefit the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. As of December 2019 the sales have earned over $5M USD for the foundation.[209]

Personal life

Limbaugh has had four marriages, three divorces, and no children.[210] He was first married at the age of 26 to Roxy Maxine McNeely, a sales secretary at radio station WHB in Kansas City, Missouri. The couple married at the Centenary United Methodist Church in Limbaugh’s hometown of Cape Girardeau on September 24, 1977.[211] McNeely filed for divorce in March 1980, citing “incompatibility.” They were formally divorced on July 10, 1980.[7]

In 1983, Limbaugh married Michelle Sixta, a college student and usherette at the Kansas City Royals Stadium Club. They divorced in 1990, and she remarried the following year.[7]

On May 27, 1994, Limbaugh married Marta Fitzgerald, a 35-year-old aerobics instructor whom he met on the online service CompuServe in 1990.[212] They married at the house of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who officiated.[213] The couple separated on June 11, 2004.[214] Limbaugh announced his divorce on the air. It was finalized in December 2004.[215] In September 2004, Limbaugh became romantically involved with then-CNN news anchor Daryn Kagan; the relationship ended in February 2006.[216]

Limbaugh has lived in Palm Beach since 1996. A friend recalls that Limbaugh “fell in love with Palm Beach… after visiting her over Memorial Day weekend in 1995.”[217] Unlike New York, Florida does not tax income, the stated reason Limbaugh moved his residence and established his “Southern Command”.[218]

He dated Kathryn Rogers, a party planner from Florida, for three years[220] before he married her on June 5, 2010.[221][222] During the wedding reception after the ceremony, Elton John entertained the wedding guests for a reported $1 million fee; however, Limbaugh himself denied that the $1 million figure was accurate on his September 7, 2010, radio show.[223][224]

Through a holding company, KARHL Holdings (KARHL meaning “Kathryn and Rush Hudson Limbaugh”), Limbaugh launched a line of bottled iced tea beverages called “Two if by Tea”,[225] a play on the line from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow‘s “Paul Revere’s Ride” “one if by land, two if by sea”. KARHL Holdings features a Rush Revere website where children can send notes to Liberty, the time-traveling, talking horse.[226]

Prescription drug addiction

On October 3, 2003, the National Enquirer reported that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining the prescription drugs oxycodone and hydrocodone. Other news outlets quickly confirmed the investigation.[227] He admitted to listeners on his radio show on October 10, 2003, that he was addicted to prescription painkillers and stated that he would enter inpatient treatment for 30 days, immediately after the broadcast.[228] Limbaugh stated his addiction to painkillers resulted from several years of severe back pain heightened by a botched surgery intended to correct those problems.

A subsequent investigation into whether Limbaugh had violated Florida’s doctor shopping laws was launched by the Palm BeachState Attorney, which raised privacy issues when investigators seized Limbaugh’s private medical records looking for evidence of crimes. Roy Black, one of Limbaugh’s attorneys, stated that “Rush Limbaugh was singled out for prosecution because of who he is. We believe the state attorney’s office is applying a double standard.”[229] On November 9, 2005, following two years of investigations, Assistant State Attorney James L. Martz requested that the court set aside Limbaugh’s doctor–patient confidentiality rights and allow the state to question his physicians.[230] Limbaugh’s attorney opposed the prosecutor’s efforts to interview his doctors on the basis of patient privacy rights, and argued that the prosecutor had violated Limbaugh’s Fourth Amendment rights by illegally seizing his medical records. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement in agreement and filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Limbaugh.[231][232] On December 12, 2005, Judge David F. Crow delivered a ruling prohibiting the State of Florida from questioning Limbaugh’s physicians about “the medical condition of the patient and any information disclosed to the health care practitioner by the patient in the course of the care and treatment of the patient.”[233]

On April 28, 2006, a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of doctor shopping. According to Teri Barbera, spokeswoman for the sheriff, during his arrest, Limbaugh was booked, photographed, and fingerprinted, but not handcuffed. He was then released after about an hour on $3,000 bail.[234][235][236] After his surrender, he filed a “not guilty” plea to the charge. Prosecutors explained that the charges were brought after they discovered he received about 2,000 painkillers, prescribed by four doctors in six months, at a pharmacy near his Palm Beach mansion. In 2009, after three years of prolonged discussion regarding a settlement, prosecutors agreed to drop the charge if Limbaugh paid $30,000 to defray the cost of the investigation, completed an 18-month therapy regimen with his physician, submitted to random drug testing, and gave up his right to own a firearm for eighteen months.[237] Limbaugh agreed to the settlement, though he continued to maintain his innocence of doctor shopping and asserted that the state’s offer resulted from a lack of evidence supporting the charge.[238]

Before his addiction became known, Limbaugh had condemned illegal drug use on his television program, stating that “Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country… And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”[239][240]

Viagra incident

In June 2006, Limbaugh was detained by drug enforcement agents at Palm Beach International Airport. Customs officials confiscated Viagra from Limbaugh’s luggage as he was returning from the Dominican Republic. The prescription was not in Limbaugh’s name.[241]After he was released with no charges filed, Limbaugh joked about the incident on his radio show, claiming that he got the Viagra at the Clinton Library and was told they were blue M&M’s. He also stated that “I had a great time in the Dominican Republic. Wish I could tell you about it.”[241]

Health issues

Rush Limbaugh has described himself as being “100 percent, totally deaf.”[242] In 2001, Limbaugh announced that he had lost most of his ability to hear: “I cannot hear television. I cannot hear music. I am, for all practical purposes, deaf – and it’s happened in three months.” He said that the condition was not genetic.[243] He was diagnosed with autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED) and medications failed to work. On December 19, 2001, doctors at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles were able to successfully restore a measure of his hearing through cochlear implant surgery. Limbaugh received a Clarion CII Bionic Ear.[244]

When questioned whether Limbaugh’s sudden hearing loss was caused by his addiction to opioids, his cochlear implant doctor, otolaryngologist Jennifer Derebery, said that it was possible but that there is no way to know for sure without performing tests that would destroy Limbaugh’s hearing completely. “We don’t know why some people, but apparently not most, who take large doses may lose their hearing”.[245]

In 2005, Limbaugh was forced to undergo “tuning” due to an “eye twitch,” an apparent side-effect of cochlear implants.[246]

On April 8, 2014, on his radio program, Limbaugh announced his decision to ‘go bilateral.’ “I’m going to get an implant on the right side,” he said.[247] After bilateral tuning, there was 100% improvement. “Coming from total deafness, it is miraculous! How can you not believe in God?” Limbaugh said in his national daily broadcast.[248]

Limbaugh was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer on January 20, 2020, after first experiencing shortness of breath on January 12.[249] He announced the diagnosis on air during his radio show on February 3; conceding that he would miss airtime to undergo treatment, he stated that he planned to continue the program “as normally and competently” as he could while undergoing treatment.[250]

In 1992, Limbaugh published his first book, The Way Things Ought to Be, followed by See, I Told You So, the following year. Both titles were number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for 24 weeks.[251] His first book was dictated by himself, and transcribed and edited by Wall Street Journal Journal writer John Fund.

In 2013, Limbaugh authored his first children’s book entitled, Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans. He received the Author of the Year Award from the Children’s Book Council for this work.[252] Limbaugh’s second children’s book was released the following year, entitled, Rush Revere and the First Patriots: Time-Travel with Exceptional Americans. This book was nominated as an author-of-the year finalist for the annual Children’s and Teen Choice Book Awards.[253] Limbaugh’s third children’s book was released later this same year, written with his wife, Kathryn, and entitled Rush Revere and the American Revolution. The Limbaugh’s dedicated this to the U.S. military and their families.[254]

Rendall, Steven; Naureckas, Jim; Cohen, Jeff (1995). The Way Things Aren’t: Rush Limbaugh’s Reign of Error: Over 100 Outrageously False and Foolish Statements from America’s Most Powerful Radio and TV Commentator. Written for FAIR. New York: The New Press. ISBN1-56584-260-X.

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Story 3:President Trump’s Legal Team Senate Impeachment Trial Closing Arguments — Vindicate The Right To Vote, Vindicate The Constitution and Vindicate The Rule of Law By Rejecting These Articles of Impeachment — Videos

‘He will not change. And you know it’: Adam Schiff pleads for Republicans to remove Donald Trump as closing arguments end in impeachment trial – but defense attorney Ken Starr says prosecution just wants to make the 2016 election ‘null and void’

Each side wrapped up their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s trial

Both sides had two hours to finish arguing before the Senate

‘You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute,’ Adam Schiff told senators

‘President Trump’s constitutional crimes, his crimes against the American people and the nation remain in progress,’ Rep. Val Demings said

Demings led the Democrats’ main argument that Trump committed the two articles of impeachment

Adam Schiff made a passionate plea for the Senate to remove Donald Trump for office, arguing to senators it was the only way to stop his abuse of power, while defense attorney Ken Starr accused the Democrats of wanting to declare the 2016 election ‘null and void.

The dueling arguments played out on the Senate floor Monday afternoon ahead of Wednesday’s vote on whether to convict or acquit President Trump of the two articles of impeachment against him.

Schiff, the lead impeachment manager who the president has dubbed ‘Shifty Schiff,’ made the final case for his side as the odds were against them.

The president is expected to be acquitted in the Republican-controlled chamber where it would take a two-thirds vote to convict him.

‘You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute,’ Adam Schiff told senators

Both sides made their closing arguments in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial on Monday

Schiff, in his 26-minute speech, warned senators the president can’t be trusted.

‘You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country. You just can’t. He will not change. And you know it,’ he said.

He warned acquittal could bring about absolute power for Trump.

‘Trump could offer Alaska to the Russians in exchange for support in the next election or decide to move to Mar-a-Lago permanently and let Jared Kushner run the country, delegating to him the decision whether to go to war. Because those things are not necessarily criminal, this argument would allow he could not be impeached for such abuses of power. Of course this would be absurd. More than absurd, it would be dangerous,’ he added.

And he warned senators they could be the president’s next victim.

‘They’ll hack your opponents’ emails, mount a social media campaign to support you, announce investigations of your opponent to help you, and all for the asking. Leave Donald Trump in office after you have found him guilty and this is the future that you will invite,’ he said.

‘History will not be kind to Donald Trump. I think we all know that. Not because it will be written by Never-Trumpers but because whenever we have departed from the values of our nation we have come to regret it, and that regret is written all over the pages of our history,’ he said in a passionate final plea to the 100 senators who decide the president’s fate.

‘Every single vote, even a single vote by a single member can change the course of history. It is said that a single man or woman of courage makes a majority. Is there one among you who will say enough?,’ he added.

‘Truth matters little to him. What’s right matters even less. And decency matters not at all. I do not ask you to convict him truth or right or decency matter matters nothing to him but because we have proven our case and it matters to you. Truth matters to you. Right matters to you. You are decent. He is not who you are,’ he told the senators.

The president’s defense team focused on the politics with deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin calling impeachment a ‘partisan political process.’

And White House Counsel Pat Cipollone asked the Senate to ‘end the era of impeachment once and for all.’

Rep. Val Demings made the Democrats case that President Trump committed the two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of justice

President Trump has denied all charges

Trump lawyer Sekulow plays video of Dems calling for impeachment

‘This was the first totally partisan presidential impeachment in our nation’s history,’ Trump’s personal attorney Jay Sekulow charged. ‘And it should be our last. What the House Democrats have done to this nation, to the constitution, to the office of the president, to the president himself and to this body is outrageous. They have cheapened the awesome power of impeachment.’

He played a video – complete with pulsing beat of ominous music – of an array of Democratic figures calling for the president’s impeachment back in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Sekulow went on to add: ‘The bottom line is that the president’s opponents don’t like the president and they really don’t like his policies.’

Starr echoed an argument the president and his allies have long made: Democrats were trying to overturn the last presidential election.

He said a vote for impeachment would give the message that ‘your vote in the last election is hereby declared null and void. And by the way, we are not going to allow you – the American people – to sit in judgment on this president and his record.’

Cipollone made the same point and said the only conclusion the senators could come to was to impeach the president.

‘At the end of the day, the key conclusion, we believe the only conclusion based on the evidence and based on the articles of impeachment themselves and the Constitution, is that you must vote to acquit the president,’ Cipollone said. ‘At the end of the day, this is an effort to overturn the results of one election and to try to interfere in the coming election that begins today in Iowa.’

‘Leave the choice of the president to the American people,’ he said, referring to the upcoming November election.

And deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin warned that a vote for impeachment could upset the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.

He argued that anything a president does that Congress doesn’t like ‘and a time they don’t like can be treated as an impeachable offense. That’s an incredibly dangerous assertion. Because if it were accepted, it would fundamentally alter the balance between the different branches of our government,’ he said.

‘This was a purely partisan political process,’ Philbin said. ‘It was imposed by partisans in the House. It was done not to persuade anyone, to get to the truth or go by past presidents. It was done to get done by Christmas on a political timetable. And it’s not something this chamber should condone. That in itself provides a sufficient and substantial reason for rejecting the articles of impeachment.’

President Trump’s attorneys – Ken Starr, Pat Cipollone, Jay Sekulow and Patrick Philbin – argued Democrats were acting in a partisan way to try and overturn the 2016 election

Democratic Rep. Val Demings of Florida outlined the role Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani played in the allegations against the president.

‘Donald Trump was the central player in the corrupt scheme assisted principally by his private attorney Rudy Giuliani,’ she said.

And she said he was still doing it.

‘As I stand here today, delivering the House’s closing argument, President Trump’s constitutional crimes, his crimes against the American people and the nation remain in progress,’ Demings said.

In her 20 minute argument, Demings made the most detailed case for Democrats.

She charged the president with trying to ‘cheat in the next election’ and alleged that he ‘weaponized our government.’ She told senators that Trump ‘violated his oath of office’ and committed a ‘grave abuse of power.’

Demings led the Democrats’ main argument that Trump committed the two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress – and it warranted his conviction and removal from office.

‘The House has presented to you overwhelming and unconverted evidence that President Trump has committed grave abuses of power that harmed our national security and were intended to defraud our elections,’ she said.

She then went through the history of the Democrats’ central argument against the president – that he with held U.S. aid from the Ukraine in exchange for that country to investigate his political rivals, Joe and Hunter Biden.

She rewove the Democrats’ case, bringing together all the bits of the story that have played out over the House investigation and trial in the Senate: the freeze on aid to the Ukraine, the campaign against the U.S. ambassador, Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president that sparked the impeachment inquiry, and the work of Giuliani.

Demings, who was the first female police chief in Orlando before running for Congress, minced no words when it came to Giuliani’s actions in the Ukraine. The president’s personal attorney was running a shadow foreign policy with the country, State Department aides testified during the impeachment investigation, for the political benefit of the president.

She accused Giuliani of working with Ukrainians ‘to fabricate and promote phony investigations of wrongdoing’ against Joe Biden.

Schiff urges Senate to convict as he presents closing arguments

Rep. Demings didn’t hold back when she talked about Rudy Giuliani’s actions in the Ukraine

Demings brought up Giuliani’s work with Lev Parnas, who faces charges of illegal campaign contributions to Trump

Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas together at the Trump International Hotel in Washington in September 2019

She retraced the House Democrats’ case, pointing out how Giuliani worked with his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to first get rid of then-U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and then how Trump tried to get Giuliani a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Parnas and Fruman both face charges of illegal campaign contributions.

Demings then brought up Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who Democrats wanted to call to testify but Senate Republicans defeated that proposal in 51-49 vote on Friday. Parnas has also said he would testify.

‘According to reports about Ambassador Bolton’s account, soon to be available if not to this body, then to bookstores near you, the president also unsuccessfully tried to get Bolton to call the new Ukrainian president to ensure he would meet with Giuliani. The desire for Ukraine to announce these phony investigations was for a clear and corrupt reason. Because President Trump wanted the political benefit of a foreign country announcing that it would investigate his rival,’ she said.

In his forth coming memoir, Bolton claimed the president told him U.S. aid to the Ukraine was being held up to pressure the country into investigating the Bidens.

Trump has denied the charge.

‘The desire for Ukraine to announce these phony investigations was for a clear and corrupt reason. Because President Trump wanted the political benefit of a foreign country announcing that it would investigate his rival. That is how we know, without a doubt, that the object of the president’s scheme was to benefit his re-election campaign. In other words, to cheat in the next election,’ Demings declared.

‘President Trump weaponized our government and the vast powers entrusted to him by the American people and the constitution to target his political rival and corrupt our precious elections,’ she said.

‘He put his personal interests over those of the country,’ she continued. ‘And he violated his oath of office in the process. But the president’s grave abuse of power did not end there. In conduct unparalleled in American history, once he got caught, President Trump engaged in categorical and indiscriminate obstruction of any investigation into his wrongdoing.’

And she said he acted guilty.

‘The president’s obstruction was unlawful and unprecedented, but it also confirmed his guilt. Innocent people don’t try to hide every document and witness, especially those that would clear them. That’s what guilty people do. That’s what guilty people do,’ she said.

Trump took to Twitter during the Democrats’ closing argument to repeat his complaint he was the victim of a ‘hoax.’

‘I hope Republicans & the American people realize that the totally partisan Impeachment Hoax is exacty that, a Hoax. Read the Transcripts, listen to what the President & Foreign Minister of Ukraine said (‘No Pressure’). Nothing will ever satisfy the Do Nothing, Radical Left Dems!,’ he wrote.

this body, this distinguished body, and serving the public, once saying, quote, ‘glory the laws to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely and who rely on you.’

Democratic Rep. Jason Crowe made a similar argument about the reputation of the Senate, quoting from the Harry Potter book series.

‘The quote is from Professor Dumbledore, who said, it is our choices that show who we truly are for more than our abilities. This trial will soon be over, but there will be many choices for all of us in the days ahead, the most pressing of which is how each of us will decide to fulfill our oath. More than our words, our choices will show the world who we really are, what type of leaders we will be and what type of nation we will be,’ he said.

Closing arguments began Monday even as President Trump is expected to be acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate.

But there is plenty of drama in the works leading up to Wednesday afternoon’s vote on the matter that is likely to have reverberations on relations between the two ends of Pennsylvania Avenue for the remainder of President Trump’s time in the White House.

Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired Sunday he could see the ‘hatred’ from Democrats. The president had strong words for his political foes and didn’t sound a hopeful tone about future relations between the two branches of government.

‘It’s pretty hard when you think about it because it’s been such, I use the word witch hunt – I use the word hoax,’ Trump said when asked about working with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer after the trial’s conclusion.

‘I see the hatred,’ he added. ‘They don’t care about fairness. They don’t care about lying.’

Closing arguments began Monday in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial – he’s seen leaving for Mar-a-Lago on Friday with first lady Melania Trump

Trump said it will be hard to work with Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the trial

The president will be in the same room with Pelosi and Schumer before his trial ends, on Tuesday evening for his annual State of the Union address. The speaker will be seated behind him in the House chamber and Schumer will be in the audience during the joint session of Congress.

It’s unclear if the president will mention his trial in his remarks.

A senior administration official wouldn’t say when asked about it during a Friday briefing at the White House.

‘I’m not going to get ahead of what the president will say,’ the person said.

And Trump told reporters during his Super Bowl party at his West Palm Beach golf club Sunday night: ‘We’re really looking to giving a very very positive message’ when he gives his speech.

Trump – the head of the executive branch – and Pelosi – the powerful speaker of the House who can make or break his legislative agenda on Capitol Hill – will have to work together when the impeachment trial concludes.

Congress must pass a budget to fund the government before the end of the fiscal year in October and both sides have expressed an interest in lower prescription drug costs and working on infrastructure.

But first, opening arguments in Trump’s impeachment trial began at 11 a.m. ET Monday, when the Senate came back into session after Republicans handed Trump a victory on Friday, voting against calling additional witnesses in the case.

That move signaled a rapid conclusion of the trial was on hand for the president.

There will be four hours for closing arguments – two for the prosecution and two for Trump’s defense team.

Afterward, there will be time for senators to make remarks on the Senate floor about the case.

The final vote on Wednesday will conclude the Democrats’ three-month investigation into allegations Trump with held nearly $400 million in military aid to the Ukraine in exchange for that country to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden, his political rivals.

Trump denies the charges but House Democrats vote in December to charge him with two articles of impeachment: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Three Democratic senators – Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – all represent states the president carried in the 2016 election and have stayed quiet about how they intend to vote on impeachment

A NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found the majority of voters believe that Trump abused his power and obstructed Congress, but they are split on whether he should be removed from office.

In the poll, released on Sunday, 46 per cent said the president should be removed from office while 49 per cent said he should remain.

Republicans have a 53-47 advantage in the Senate, meaning there’s nowhere near the two-thirds votes needed for Trump’s conviction and removal from office.

The focus of Wednesday’s vote, however, will be if the president gets a bipartisan all-clear.

Three Democratic senators – Doug Jones of Alabama, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – all represent states the president carried in the 2016 election and have stayed quiet about how they intend to vote.

Just one Democratic voting in his favor would give the president something to crow about.

And while Trump’s trial is rolling toward a close on Wednesday, the spectra of the Ukraine may not.

Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence panel chairman and lead Democratic impeachment manager, wouldn’t rule out subpoenaing John Bolton in the future.

Democrats wanted to hear from the president’s former National Security Adviser about excerpts published from his forth coming memoir.

‘I don’t want to comment to this point on what our plans may or may not be with respect to John Bolton,’ Schiff said Sunday on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation. ‘But I will say this: whether it’s before- in testimony before the House or it’s in his book or it’s in one form or another, the truth will come out as- will continue to come out.’

Schiff also said ‘there’s nothing that I can see that we could have done differently’ in presenting their case against the president to the Senate.

Adam Schiff wouldn’t rule out subpoenaing John Bolton in the future

Democrats wanted to hear from John Bolton about excerpts published from his forth coming memoir

Meanwhile, some Democrats are already shifting their attention to their next battle with the president: the November election.

Democrats finally begin voting for their party’s nominee on Monday when Iowa holds is caucuses – the first nominating contest.

Four contenders for the Democratic nomination – Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet – have missed out on valuable campaign time due to Trump’s trial.

And all will be back in Washington D.C. on Wednesday for the final vote on the president’s fate.

Trump’s legal team prepares for impeachment trial

Meet The Trump Impeachment Defense Team | The Day That Was | MSNBC

Jim Jordan on joining Trump’s defense team: All the facts support the president

Trump assembles a made-for-TV impeachment defense team

By ERIC TUCKER and ZEKE MILLER2 hours ago

President Donald Trump has assembled a made-for-TV legal team for his Senate trial that includes household names like Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation two decades ago resulted in the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said he will deliver constitutional arguments meant to shield Trump from allegations that he abused his power.

The additions Friday bring experience in the politics of impeachment as well as constitutional law to the team, which faced a busy weekend of deadlines for legal briefs before opening arguments begin Tuesday even as more evidence rolled in.

The two new Trump attorneys are already nationally known both for their involvement in some of the more consequential legal dramas of recent American history and for their regular appearances on Fox News, the president’s preferred television network.

Dershowitz is a constitutional expert whose expansive views of presidential powers echo those of Trump. Starr is a veteran of partisan battles in Washington, having led the investigation into Clinton’s affair with a White House intern that brought about the president’s impeachment by the House. Clinton was acquitted at his Senate trial, the same outcome Trump is expecting from the Republican-led chamber.

Still, the lead roles for Trump’s defense will be played by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, who also represented Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Democrats released more documents late Friday from Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, with photos, text and audio, as they make their case against the president over his actions toward Ukraine.

There are some signs of tension involving the president’s outside legal team and lawyers within the White House.

Some White House officials bristled that the announcement was not coordinated with them. The White House waited until late Friday night to confirm the full roster of the president’s lawyers.

Hours after Dershowitz announced his involvement with the team in a series of tweets Friday, he played down his role by saying he would be present for only an hour or so to make constitutional arguments.

“I’m not a full-fledged member of the defense team,” he told “The Dan Abrams Show” on SiriusXM. He has long been a critic of “the overuse of impeachment,” he said, and would have made the same case for a President Hillary Clinton.

A legal brief laying out the contours of the Trump defense, due at noon Monday, was still being drafted, with White House attorneys and the outside legal team grappling over how political the document should be. Those inside the administration have echoed warnings from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the pleadings must be sensitive to the Senate’s more staid traditions and leave the sharper rhetoric to Twitter and cable news.

White House lawyers were successful in keeping Trump from adding House Republicans to the team, but they also advised him against tapping Dershowitz, according to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions. They’re concerned because of the professor’s association with Jeffrey Epstein, the millionaire who killed himself in jail last summer while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

A Fox News host said on the air that Starr would be parting ways with the network as a result of his role on the legal team.

Other members of Trump’s legal defense include Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general; Jane Raskin, who was part of the president’s legal team during Mueller’s investigation; Robert Ray, who was part of the Whitewater investigation of the Clintons; and Eric D. Herschmann of the Kasowitz Benson Torres legal firm, which has represented Trump in numerous cases over the last 15 years.

Giuliani told The Associated Press that the president has assembled a “top-notch” defense team and he was not disappointed not to be included.

Giuliani, who many in the White House blame for leading Trump down the path to impeachment by fueling Ukraine conspiracies, had previously expressed interest in being on the legal team. But he said Friday his focus would be on being a potential witness, though there is no certainty that he would be called.

“I will be getting ready to testify,” he said.

Trump was impeached by the House last month on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress, stemming from his pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democratic rivals as he was withholding security aid, and his efforts to block the ensuing congressional probe.

Senators were sworn in as jurors Thursday by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The Government Accountability Office said Thursday that the White House violated federal law in withholding the security assistance to Ukraine, which shares a border with hostile Russia.

Democrats deep into their own preparations released more information from the trove Parnas has turned over to prosecutors linking the president to the shadow foreign policy being run by Giuliani.

Friday’s release included multiple photos of the Soviet-born Florida businessman, including several with Giuliani and some with Trump and Trump’s son, Don Jr.

It also included messages between Parnas and a staff member for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., a Trump ally.

The GAO report and Parnas documents have applied fresh pressure to senators to call more witnesses for the trial, a main source of contention that is still to be resolved. The White House has instructed officials not to comply with subpoenas from Congress requesting witnesses or other information.

Views on it all are decidedly mixed in the Senate, reflective of the nation at the start of this election year.

“I’ll be honest, a lot of us do see it as a political exercise,” Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa told reporters on a conference call. “The whole process has really been odd or unusual or bizarre.”

Others spoke of the seriousness of the moment.

“Totally somber,” tweeted Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut. He sits next to Elizabeth Warren, one of four senators running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump in the fall, and said they agreed their “overwhelming emotion was sadness.”

All said they will be listening closely to all arguments.

As she filed for re-election Friday in West Virginia, GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told reporters, “I think it’s been a very politicized process to this point and the president hasn’t had a chance to present his side.”

Starr, besides his 1990s role as independent counsel, is a former U.S. solicitor general and federal circuit court judge.

More recently, he was removed as president of Baylor University and then resigned as chancellor of the school in the wake of a review critical of the university’s handling of sexual assault allegations against football players. Starr said his resignation was the result of the university’s board of regents seeking to place the school under new leadership following the scandal, not because he was accused of hiding or failing to act on information.

Dershowitz’s reputation has been damaged in recent years by his association with Epstein. One of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, has accused Dershowitz of participating in her abuse. Dershowitz has denied it and has been battling in court for years with Giuffre and her lawyers. He recently wrote a book, “Guilt by Accusation,” rejecting her allegations.

Giuffre and Dershowitz are also suing each other for defamation, each saying the other is lying.

_____

Associated Press writers David Caruso in New York, David Pitt in Iowa, Anthony Izaguirre in West Virginia, Sean Murphy in Oklahoma and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump once called his new defense attorney in the Senate impeachment trial, Ken Starr, a ‘lunatic’ and a ‘disaster’ who was ‘off his rocker.’

Trump’s harsh comments came during a 1999 Today Show interview that recently resurfaced during a segment on MSNBC with host Andrea Mitchell.

At that time, Starr was investigating former President Bill Clinton and drafting the ‘Starr Report’, which became the basis for the 1998 impeachment.

Trump was a public supporter of Clinton and would register as a Democrat in August 2001.

When asked by Matt Lauer if Clinton should be impeached, Trump directed his criticism to Starr and his handling of the process.

‘I think Ken Starr’s a lunatic. I really think that Ken Starr is a disaster,’ he said.

He added: ‘I hated the way the president handled it, it was a long and terrible process. I really think that Ken Starr was terrible.’

President Trump criticized Ken Starr during an interview, saying: ‘I think Ken Starr’s a lunatic. I really think that Ken Starr is a disaster’

In the same interview, he would later refer to Starr was ‘wacko’ and suggested he made Hillary Clinton’s life miserable.

‘She’s had a very tough life the last few years. I mean, what could be tougher than that?,’ he said, according to The Washington Post.

‘I mean, can you imagine those evenings when he’s just being lambasted by this crazy Ken Starr, who is a total wacko? There’s the guy. I mean, he is totally off his rocker.’

Ken Starr (pictured) was part of the impeachment investigation for Bill Clinton and drafted the ‘Starr Report’, which became the basis for the 1998 impeachment

Trump adds Alan Dershowitz to impeachment team

In an ironic twist, Trump appeared on Chris Matthew’s show to argued that Starr created something out of nothing in Clinton’s impeachment.

‘Starr has taken something from nothing and brought it into this big crescendo. But you know what? It’s got to stop. It’s enough,’ Trump said.

In an interview with the New York Times, Trump continued to rail against Starr.

Trump said: ‘Starr’s a freak. I bet he’s got something in his closet.’

On Friday, it was revealed that Trump’s legal team will include Starr and Alan Dershowitz, who defended OJ Simpson and Jeffrey Epstein.

Starr acted on Jeffrey Epstein’s first defense team in 2008 after the accused paedophile was charged with soliciting a child for prostitution.

In 2016, Starr was removed from his job as president on Baylor University after an independent investigation found that, under his leadership, the school did not adequately respond to allegations of sexual assault against players of its championship football team.

He later resigned as chancellor of the Baylor University.

Additionally, Starr was a supporter of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his controversial nomination was met with allegations of sexual assault.

Alan Dershowitz (left) and Ken Starr (right) were revealed to be defense lawyers for President Trump ahead of the Senate impeachment trial

‘The matter is adjourned,’ Starr told CNN during an interview.

‘You had your opportunity to come forward, and you failed to do that year after year after year.’

Monica Lewsinky, a the former White House intern who became embroiled in the Starr report, shared her reaction to the appointment on Twitter.

‘This is definitely an “are you f***ing kidding me?” kinda day,’ she wrote.

Lewinsky stated that she had nine sexual encounters with Clinton in the Oval Office between 1995 and 1997.

Although Trump’s defense will be spearheaded by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his private attorney Jay Sekulow, Starr and Dershowitz were brought on to round out the group.

Reports say Trump was concerned his lawyers would not be aggressive enough during defense proceedings.

In February 2018, Trump quoted Starr in a series of tweets regarding the Russian collusion investigation that continues to mar his presidency.

Trump quoted Starr in a series of tweets in 2019 during the controversial Russian investigation

Trump: ‘Judge Ken Starr, former Solicitor Generel & Independent Counsel, just stated that, after two years, “there is no evidence or proof of collusion” & further that “there is no evidence that there was a campaign financing violation involving the President.” Thank you Judge’

He wrote: ‘We’ve seen NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION….I have seen nothing, the firing of James Comey and all of the aftermath, that suggests that the President has obstructed justice because he’s exercising his power as the President of the U.S. I just don’t see it.” Judge Ken Starr.’

‘Judge Ken Starr, former Solicitor Generel & Independent Counsel, just stated that, after two years, “there is no evidence or proof of collusion” & further that “there is no evidence that there was a campaign financing violation involving the President.” Thank you Judge. @FoxNews,’ he added in a later tweet.

Story 2: Bombshells or Duds in Impeachment Trial — Videos —

Impeachment Moves Forward to Nowhere

Meanwhile, a debate showcases the Democrats’ detachment from life on the ground in America.

By Peggy Noonan

Jan. 16, 2020 7:17 pm ET

Impeachment is moving forward and going nowhere. There is new information but it doesn’t really tell those who’ve paid attention anything they didn’t know. Putative administration operative Lev Parnas said on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday that the president knew everything about efforts to lean on Ukraine. But this was clear in testimony throughout the impeachment hearings. His own ambassador to the European Union said it! The ambassador to Ukraine knew she was being schemed against, lost her job because of it, and spelled it out under oath.

It’s icing on a cake that’s already sagging. The president will be acquitted for a host of reasons, from partisanship to a prudential judgment that his actions don’t warrant removal with a presidential election 10 months away.

What did Speaker Nancy Pelosi gain by playing her monthlong game of peekaboo, waiting to send the charges to the Senate? She withheld from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell papers he didn’t wish to receive and she saw that as leverage? It appears she was playing for time as investigators tried to develop more evidence. But again, for what? The president couldn’t look more guilty.

Meantime impeachment as a dramatic and distinct event lost all momentum. In the month after the House vote the story lost lift, then got lost in the Iran drama. This second stage feels not like the continuation of the first but a brand new second impeachment, which a lot of people will experience as overkill.

On the creepiness of the signing ceremony for the impeachment articles: Modern presidents have always held such ceremonies and signed big, happy legislation with many pens. Lyndon B. Johnson liked clutching bunches of them in his thick, meaty fist and handing them out personally. But the impeachment of a president is a grave and unhappy event. It’s not celebratory. Enacting triumphalism was shallow and looked like a tell. Why pens, why not a scalp?

Serious people understand the implications of things. Impeachment has now been normalized. It won’t be a once-in-a-generation act but an every-administration act. Democrats will regret it when Republicans are handing out the pens.

To the Democratic debate Tuesday night in Des Moines.

It contained my favorite panel-candidate moment of this cycle.

Bright young woman journalist: “Sen. Sanders, I do want to be clear here, you’re saying that you never told Sen. Warren that a woman could not win the election?”

Sanders: “That is correct.”

BYWJ: “Sen. Warren, what did you think when Sen. Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?”

Warren: “I disagreed.”

It was like Judge Judy on drugs:

“Ernie, did you hit Peggy on the head?”

“No, of course not.”

“Peggy, how did you feel when Ernie hit you on the head?”

The moment went uncorrected. This is why people hate the press.

I found myself watching Elizabeth Warren. She has proved she can take a punch and throw one (“Look at the men on this stage. Collectively, they have lost 10 elections.”) Of the candidates in their 70s she’s the highest-energy and most indefatigable. Actually she’d have high energy for a 50-year-old. All candidates now have to be actors but she’s a good one, telling her stories over and over, her voice growing husky at the moving parts.

Her challenge is not that she’s a woman, it is her policies, and maybe something else. I watched the debate with a man who’s a sophisticated observer with no dog in the fight. Ms. Warren was doing her magical thinking about how universal Medicare won’t cost people a thing, it’s all savings with a few small tax increases on people we don’t like. I asked aloud, “Does she believe what she says or does she know it’s make-believe?”

He considered: “She did.” he said. That sounds right, that she started with belief but at this point sees the holes in what she’s saying. She’s caught, because she’s said it too often and now can only repeat it.

Bernie Sanders has the same magical thinking about the cost of things, who’ll pay, and what effect that will have on the nation’s life. But he gets away with it because he’s a declared socialist. His supporters don’t want realism and his foes don’t expect it. Ms. Warren says she’s a capitalist with a critique, so she faces a different burden.

There was also in the debate a kind of detachment from real life. A voter asked: “How will you prioritize accessing quality affordable child care?” The candidates were indignant that women can be held from the workforce by the high cost of child care. Pete Buttigieg vowed to get “federal dollars” involved, and spoke of stunted careers. Ms. Warren said, “My plan is universal child care for everyone.” She told of how she was almost forced “off track” by child care problems. Mr. Sanders said, “Every psychologist in the world knows 0 through 4 are the most important years of human life, intellectually and emotionally.”

No one spoke with compassion for parents, for mothers who forgo the earnings and status (“I have a job”) and relationships (“I’m not lonely all day”) of having a job to stay home with kids under 4. No one said that actually a lot of parents think the most important thing is to stay home and raise the kids, that many struggle to do it, and we might want to help them. No one noted we don’t give any particular honor to those who stay home, even though our culture depends on them.

What seemed to guide all the answers was a technocratic assumption that it’s best for little children to be raised by well-compensated strangers as mom is absorbed into the workforce, where she’ll finally achieve full self-actualization.

It was all so . . . cold. And detached from real life as many live it.

Meanwhile in full-employment America, Donald Trump is taking out terrorists with drones and announcing trade deals with China and seemingly weathering every storm. In the China ceremony Tuesday, in the East Room, after a booming “Hail to the Chief,” with a palpable sense of triumph filling the room, with the golden frames of the great portraits shining, Mr. Trump rolled off the names of the CEOs in the audience. There were a lot! It was in a way a fabulous celebration of the riches produced by capitalism. But it also seemed an almost sinister declaration of the intimate ties between great U.S. corporations and the federal government. The CEO of Boeing is here, the chief of eBay. “How’s General Electric doing, Nels?” “Ryan Lance, ConocoPhillips, you’re doing fantastically well!” “I made a lot of bankers look very good, but you’re doing a great job.” “Ken Griffin, Citadel, what a guy he is.”

It was reminiscent of the scene in “The Godfather: Part II” where Fulgencio Batista hands around the solid gold telephone. “I’d like to thank this distinguished group of American industrialists for continuing to work with Cuba for the greatest period of prosperity in her entire history. Mr. William Shaw, representing the General Fruit Company . . . Messrs. Corngold and Dant of the United Telephone and Telegraph Company . . . and of course our friend Mr. Robert Allen of South American Sugar.”

We all think our breathless recitations of the latest revelations matter but I don’t know, it keeps feeling like 2016. Only this time with full employment.

The fate of Donald Trump’s presidency hinges on an impeachment case that is unfolding faster than Congress can keep up.

An explosive interview by an associate of Rudy Giuliani and a government watchdog’s report that Trump’s freeze of Ukraine military aid violated the law immediately shook up the political and strategic calculus for lawmakers just hours before the start of Trump’s impeachment trial. The associate, Lev Parnas, could even be called as a witness in the Senate trial.

“Evidence is coming in every day that supports our case,” said Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), one of seven impeachment managers who will be prosecuting the case against Trump in the Senate trial.

“All of this continues to underscore the need for witnesses and documents,” added Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), another impeachment manager.

Democrats remain hopeful that the revelations will dial up pressure on Senate Republicans weighing whether to seek witnesses and documents in the trial. It has already provided the House’s impeachment managers new angles to lay out their case against Trump, as they race to prepare for opening arguments expected to begin Tuesday.

So far, Senate Republicans appear unmoved.

“They were in such a hurry that they didn’t get all this information? What the heck, OK?” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), blaming House Democrats for impeaching Trump before waiting to develop additional strains of evidence. “So let’s focus on the record. They obviously felt they had enough information to impeach the president with what they had. Let’s take a look at what they had.”

Still, the new developments underscore the peril facing GOP senators as the trial begins and whether to heed Democrats’ urgent demands to call witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and senior White House officials who have firsthand knowledge of Trump’s actions in the Ukraine saga.

“They’re afraid of the truth,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “This is just another avoiding of the facts and the truth on their part. They don’t want to see documents, they don’t want to hear from eye witnesses, they want to ignore anything new that comes up.”

The House impeached Trump last month over allegations that he pressured Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Democrats say the evidence is clear that Trump withheld military aid from the beleaguered ally, which is engaged in an active war against Russian invaders, in order to boost his political standing. Then, the impeachment articles charge, Trump stonewalled investigations of the matter to prevent it from becoming public.

House Democrats received startling new ammunition this week from Parnas, an indicted associate of Giuliani, who also turned over to lawmakers hundreds of pages of text messages, emails, photos and other information that corroborated his case. In an interview Wednesday night on MSNBC, Parnas implicated several additional senior officials in the alleged scheme, including Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General William Barr, who all rejected the claims.

“This is an example of all of the president’s henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president’s henchmen,” Pelosi said.

But Democrats — in particular, those who will be presenting the case to the Senate — were relatively subdued as they reacted to the revelations on Thursday, noting that Parnas, who faces serious legal jeopardy for alleged campaign-finance crimes, should not be presumed to be trustworthy.

“I don’t know how it changes the case because we certainly start with someone who has had his issues,” Demings said of Parnas, adding that he “started on the wrong side” and might be “trying to right [his] wrongs.”

Trump says Giuliani letter to Zelensky ‘wouldn’t have been a big deal’

“We’re listening — and not making any judgments,” Demings said. “I haven’t put him in any category yet.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead impeachment manager, was similarly noncommittal, saying in a statement that his panel was “continuing to review his interviews and the materials he has provided to evaluate his potential testimony in the Senate trial.”

Senate Republicans downplayed both developments, even as the new details seemed to unsettle and intensify the case against Trump.

“I don’t think that changes anything,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said of the non-partisan Government Accountability Office report.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) went further, arguing that GAO got it wrong when the agency concluded the White House violated the Impoundment Control Act by declining to notify Congress of the delay in appropriated funds.

“I think they misunderstand the law. I think presidents withhold money all the time, move money around,” Paul said. “I think there’s a great deal of latitude to what presidents do. So I think they’ve misinterpreted the law.”

GOP senators also questioned Parnas’ credibility, given the charges against him.

“I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

But Democrats cited both developments to underscore the urgency of holding a trial that includes witnesses and documents, rather than quickly proceeding to a final vote on whether to remove Trump from office.

Pelosi and McCarthy have conflicting opinions on GAO report

Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, a Democrat facing a tough re-election campaign, said the last 24 hours have bolstered his party’s case to hear from witnesses and subpoena documents. He called the GAO report’s conclusion “pretty serious, pretty strong.”

“The president gave an order to take illegal action … so this is obviously a very important part of the evidence that will be before the Senate during the trial,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) who released the GAO report. “What Parnas’ statement underscores is the importance of getting relevant witnesses and documents. He had a lot to say.”

“At this point [it] would be a dereliction of constitutional duty not to support fact witnesses,” he added.

Several key Republicans including Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said they had not reviewed the GAO report, and declined to comment on the possibility of bringing in Parnas.

And Trump’s allies scoffed at the new revelations.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) said his views on the contours of the trial have “probably not” changed and that he would not want to restrict the executive branch’s “ability … to hold something if you thought it had to be done.”

In other words, GOP unity on McConnell’s plan to punt the decision on witnesses appeared to show no cracks; Romney said the matter will be largely up to the impeachment managers anyway.

Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan, and Marianne LeVine contributed to this report.

Jerome Powell Secretly Knows the Federal Reserve Is About to Crash the

Bill Dudley Says the Fed Could Have Acted Faster on Repo Facility

Love the One You’re With

If you’re down and confused
and you don’t remember who you’re talking too
concentration slips away
cause you’re baby is so far away
chorus
well there’s a rose in the fisted glove
and eagle flies with the dove
and if you can’t be with the one you love honey
love the one you’re with
don’t be angry – don’t be sad
don’t sit crying over good times you’ve had
there’s a girl right next to you
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turn your heartache right into joy
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Stephen Stills Love The One You’re With Karaoke Full HD REMIX

Crosby, Stills & Nash (Live) – Love The One You’re With

ecent balance sheet trends

Choose one of the 5 charts.

Total Assets of the Federal Reserve
Selected Assets of the Federal Reserve
Credit Extended through Federal Reserve Liquidity Facilities
Support for Specific Institutions
Selected Liabilities of the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has expanded and contracted over time. During the 2007-08 financial crisis and subsequent recession, total assets increased significantly from $870 billion in August 2007 to$4.5 trillion in early 2015. Then, reflecting the FOMC’s balance sheet normalization program that took placebetween October 2017 and August 2019, total assets declined to under $3.8 trillion. Beginning in September 2019, total assets started to increase. 2008201020122014201620182020201020151M2M3M4M5M0Zoom1m3m6mYTD1yAllFromJul 30, 2007 To Jan 15, 2020 Total Assets (In millions of dollars)Week from Monday, Feb 12, 2018● Total Assets (In millions of dollars): 4 434 863

In a twist, dealers submitted more mortgage bonds than Treasurys to the central bank

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York building.PHOTO: EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS

By Michael S. Derby

Jan. 17, 2020 10:59 am ET

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York added $52.6 billion in short-term liquidity to the financial system Friday to help money markets get through the weekend.

The Fed added the money in a repurchase agreement operation, or repos, that took in $10.9 billion in Treasurys and $40.8 billion in mortgages. Demand from eligible banks, known as primary dealers, was lower than the $120 billion the Fed had on offer. But unusually, the dealers submitted more mortgage bonds to the Fed than Treasurys.

The demand for liquidity Friday was less than what some analysts had expected. Ahead of the operation, Wrightston ICAP said it expected a “surge” in demand as dealers replaced expiring longer-dated Fed repos with overnight repos. But the firm expects that over time demand for short-term Fed repos should wane.

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Fed repo interventions take in U.S. Treasurys, agency and mortgage bonds from eligible banks in what is effectively a short-term loan of central-bank cash, collateralized by the securities. The banks tapping this cash are limited in the amount of liquidity they can take in exchange for their securities, and they pay interest to the central bank to get the funds.

Fed money-market interventions are aimed at keeping the federal-funds rate within the 1.5% and 1.75% range, and to limit the volatility of other money-market rates. The Fed restarted its repo operations in September after unexpected market volatility and steadily increased the sizes of its operations. Demand for Fed money has waxed and waned and by and large, the Fed has restored calm to markets.

The Fed said Thursday that its balance sheet stood at $4.18 trillion as of Wednesday, versus $3.8 trillion in September. Peak Fed holdings were $4.5 trillion. About $229.5 billion in repo interventions were also outstanding on Wednesday, versus $210.6 billion on Jan. 9.

The Fed’s interventions have been controversial. The Fed had originally intended to wind down the temporary operations at the end of the month. Instead, it has extended them until at least mid-February. Some Fed officials have signaled they’ll likely go on for even longer, and markets don’t see any imminent end to the repos either.

The Fed’s balance sheet has expanded on the repo operations, but it has also grown because the Fed is buying Treasury bills to expand its holdings and boost the level of reserves in the financial system to a level that officials hope will negate the need for active and temporary interventions. Speaking Friday in New Jersey, Philadelphia Fed leader Patrick Harker said the Fed “remains committed to implementing monetary policy in a regime of ample reserves, which, again, does not require active management of the supply of reserves.”

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari took issue with the view that the central bank is pumping the markets.PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS

A broad swath of financial markets doesn’t see the Fed’s interventions as technical and believes the Fed’s injections are a form of stimulus along the lines of its so-called quantitative easing bond buying policies during and after the financial crisis. Many in markets also believe that the money the Fed is adding is also driving up stock prices more than economic fundamentals suggest is prudent.

Earlier this week, Dallas Fed leader Robert Kaplan, once a former top executive at investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc.,said he was sympathetic with that view and added he’d like to see the Fed end its current money market practices as soon as it c

The Debate Over Whether to Call It QE Is Over, and the Fed Lost

In the court of investor opinion, the verdict is in. The Federal Reserve is guilty of quantitative easing.

Never mind that Chairman Jerome Powell tells everyone his efforts to shore up funding markets are “in no sense” QE. Try as policy makers may, they’ve lost the ability to convince people that Treasury purchases aren’t at least partially why the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up almost 4,000 points since late August.

Sure, it’s all labels. If you want to call it QE, you can. Or not. If you want to ascribe the rally to Powell, that’s up to you. Certainly the Fed thinks it’s on solid ground. Rather than trying to drive down long-term interest rates to stimulate the economy, a la QE, it’s simply buying T-bills to keep the financial system’s plumbing in order.

The problem for policy makers is that perceptions matter in shaping sentiment. If everyone believes central bank largess is pushing up prices, what happens in the market when it’s turned off?

“Whether the Fed’s liquidity injection impacted directly the economy or the pricing of assets or not, it’s certainly true that a lot of people think it did,” said Jim Paulsen, Leuthold Group Inc.’s chief investment strategist. “Whether anything is going to change if the Fed takes it away doesn’t matter. If enough people feel it will, then it’s going to impact markets.”

In October, the Fed began buying $60 billion of Treasury bills per month, a move policymakers deemed as a “purely technical” way to improve control over the benchmark interest rate they use to guide monetary policy. Monthly purchases of Treasury bills will extend at least into the second quarter of 2020, officials reiterated last month.

“Growth of our balance sheet for reserve management purposes should in no way be confused with the large-scale asset purchase programs that we deployed after the financial crisis,” Powell said when the program started.

Except, the market’s straight-up trajectory is muddying efforts to distinguish the new program from the old one. The S&P 500 has soared 16% since its low in August, including the best fourth-quarter rally in six years. Inconveniently for Powell, even his lieutenants say the reaction in stocks isn’t coincidental.

Low interest rates, a belief there is a high bar to future increases and expansion of its balance sheet are helping to lift asset prices, according to Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan. “All three of those actions are contributing to elevated risk-asset valuations,” he said Wednesday on Bloomberg Television. “We ought to be sensitive to that.”

The ranks of market pundits who agree seems to expand every day. Since the Fed started buying T-bills, the S&P 500 has gone up by almost 1% for every 1% increase in the Fed’s balance sheet, Deutsche Bank observed.

“So in that sense, Fed balance sheet expansion has at least been correlated with the increase in the stock market we have seen since October,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Deutsche Bank AG, said in a Bloomberg Radio interview earlier this month.

QE refers to the crisis-era policy to boost money supply and lower long-term borrowing costs. It helped pull the economy back from the brink of ruin after the financial crisis. Three rounds of easing programs helped the stock market too, coinciding with a fivefold rally in equities.

Data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show prior balance-sheet expansions were correlated with stock market gains, too. Through the latest cycle, the S&P 500 notched an annualized gain when the balance sheet was getting bigger that was 5.4 percentage points more than when the central bank was not buying Treasuries, data compiled by Gina Martin Adams, Chief Equity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, show. Every time the central bank has mentioned trimming its holdings, a major equity correction followed, she said.

In 2011, hints from the Fed that it wouldn’t expand its asset purchase program preceded a 19% drop in the S&P 500. In 2015, talk of balance-sheet shrinkage came before a 12% decline. In late 2018, a comment about a balance sheet unwind on “autopilot” coincided with the near death of the bull market.

Skeptics say equating quantitative easing with the current program, where the Fed buys short-term debt, is extreme, as is believing that $60 billion worth of monthly Treasury bill purchases (and sundry other stimulus) holds sway over the direction of a $30 trillion U.S. stock market. Nevertheless, the wind-down of monthly purchases is the biggest risk facing investors face in 2020, strategists at John Hancock Investment Management said in December.

The Repo Market Is So Broken That The Fed Wants To Change It

Illiquidity in the U.S. repo market spooked investors in the second half of 2019, and the U.S. Federal Reserve is considering a major policy change that could help remedy the situation. However, the potential changes could come with some major political fallout.

What Is The Repo Market?

The term “repo” is short for repurchase agreement. Repo loans are overnight loans taken out by small banks and hedge funds that are repaid the following day. These banks and hedge funds use low-risk securities, such as U.S. Treasury bonds, as collateral for the loans.

Liquidity in the U.S. repo market dropped back in September, and the Fed was forced to step in for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008.

The Potential Fix

The Fed is reportedly considering completely overhauling the current repo market and instead begin allowing the repo market clearinghouse, the Fixed Income Clearing Corp. (FICC), to lend directly to small banks and hedge funds. This change would essentially eliminate the larger bank middlemen from the process and provide a direct source of overnight loans for small banks.

In theory, this change would reduce uncertainty and risk and reduce the chances a freeze in the repo market could disrupt the financial system. However, providing wealthy hedge fund managers with a direct path to Fed lending via the FICC might not sit will with the average American. The prospect of a taxpayer-funded hedge fund bailout would likely trigger political backlash.

Problems Ahead?

While proponents of the potential changes argue it would add liquidity and transparency to the repo market, opponents are concerned the changes would be seen as the Fed giving the green light to hedge funds to increase their leverage and make risky bets.

Earlier this month, the New York Fed injected another $56.7 billion into the repo market in an effort to keep fed funds interest rates in-line with the Fed’s target range of between 1.5% and 1.75%. The Fed also said its balance sheet grew from $3.8 trillion in September to $4.17 trillion by the end of 2019.

“The big picture answer is that the repo market is broken,” James Bianco, founder of Bianco Research in Chicago, told MarketWatch back in December. “They are essentially medicating the market into submission…But this is not a long-term solution.”

Benzinga’s Take

Perhaps uneasiness about the Fed’s role in the repo market is one of the driving forces behind a recent rally in gold and bitcoin prices, investments many traders see as stores of value and inflation hedges. In the past month alone, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) is up 4.5%, while the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (OTC: GBTC) is up 13.8% overall.